Please introduce yourself to the community! We would love to know more about your interests and why you joined the community, as well as your areas of expertise and experiences relevant to conflict sensitivity.

I am currently a Project Manager at MSI and previously worked at the World Bank supporting the South-South Knowledge Exchange Unit. My academic background is in Peace Operations, focusing more on conflict management and peacekeeping. I am very excited to be a part of this community because I think it’s so important for development and humanitarian organizations to apply conflict sensitive practices in their work, so that they can leave a more positive footprint and contribute effectively to peacebuilding. I’m also very eager to learn more about the community members and how we can collaborate and learn from one another.

Agha Mohsin Ali has been working in development sector since 2006 with National & International organizations including NRDP, WWOP, Youth in Action, UNDP, BBSA, CPEA Network and SEHER on different management positions, and earned a Masters in International Relations from the University of Balochistan, Quetta Pakistan. While working with National Rural Development Programme (NRDP) Pakistan in Islamabad as Manager, Program Planning and Partnership Development leading overall fundraising, resource mobilization, program researches, planning and program development processes. During 10 years of experience implemented, coordinated and partnerships developed with major donor agencies like USAID, DFID, UK-aid, UNICEF, CIDA, UNDP, USIP and IOM.

Agha has had in-depth experience in child rights, education and youth empowerment in Pakistan. He worked to protect children from abuses, neglect and exploitation as well as provide access to education through establishment of child friendly spaces and temporary learning centers in flood affected areas, provided child protection actors opportunity to interact, share their experiences and avoid any duplication of resources through CPEA Network and winner of 12 larger projects on education, child rights, democracy and nutrition. Over the period, he developed skills in monitoring and evaluation, program development, program implementation, proposal writing and resource mobilization and writer of different articles and blogs on child rights and education in different news webs like ARY Blogs, Hamari Web, Duniya News and The Nations News.

Agha also participated in different national and international forums like World Youth Conference, 2010 in Leon City, Mexico as a delegate.

I am experienced in international peace and stability operations.I experienced conflict transformation first-hand while serving in the U.S. Army during counterinsurgency operations in Baghdad, Iraq. During graduate school at George Mason University, I researched peace operations, stability operations, and conflicts through the lens of peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding practices and theories.While attending graduate school, I worked full time with the U.S. local procurement regional stabilization effort surrounding Afghanistan.That experience included interacting with local manufacturers and suppliers in Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as coordinating with ministry level officials and U.S. government agencies.As the lead for a winning research and development team, I led a small team into Port Au Prince, Haiti to conduct a proof of concept on how local manufacturers and suppliers could get their products to international procurement entities such as the United Nations Development Programme and the Department of Defense.I presented a concept called the Local Vendor Development Initiative to international humanitarians at the 2013 World Conference on Humanitarian Studies in Istanbul, Turkey.In July 2014, I was the only American selected as a Development Reporter by the Global South Development Magazine.As a volunteer, I traveled to Guatemala to investigate and report on the challenges and development solutions associated with unaccompanied children migrating to the United States.In May 2015, I planned for and led a team to Amman, Jordan to assess the need for a tailored economic development program as a result of the humanitarian and refugee crisis in the region.

Prince Charles, based out of Jos, Plateau State, conducts The Nexus Fund’s field reseearch in the middle belt region of Nigeria. Before joining the Nexus Fund, Prince Charles worked on projects for UN Women, Search for Common Ground, and International Crisis Group on several, among others. He is an alumnus of the University of Jos and the prestigious Humanitarian Academy at Harvard and Knight Center For Journalism, University of Texas at Austin.

Born in Lagos State (South West Nigeria), Prince Charles is proud of his Nigerian roots. He is a Henry Luce Fellow, Ford Foundation grantee and is proficient in English, French, Yoruba Ibo and Hausa.

Mr Ahouty Kouakou is born in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. He has strong leadership skils. He is the Executive Director of NGO Action et Humanisme based in Abidjan. He is the conceptor of Mobile4Life, peacebuilding through ICT. He implemented a project that allowed to build capacity of 25 persons in conflict management. He is Opportunity Collaboration Cordes Fellow. Mr Ahouty Kouakou is a blogger, an activist and a freelance journalist. He is currently Global South Development Magazine reporter. He has written several articles that address development issues. Besides, he has good command in English, French, Spanish.

Hi, I’m Aleksandra Markovich, Technical Manager at Management Systems International. My areas of interest and expertise include governance, post-conflict stabilization, gender and social inclusion, and training and facilitation. Happy to be part of the Peace Exchange community and hoping to learn more about how to put conflict sensitive approaches into practice.

Hello, I’m Hayfa from Tunisia . I study International Relations . I speak Arabic, English and French

. I’m proud of being a young Tunisian student . My goals are to achieve a good career in this field in the future , to boost my knowledge and learn more and more through new experiences , internships and information .

I have a lack of experience . I’m very motivated in improving myself . If any person is able to help me ill be thankful !

I am Amada Benavides, president Schools of Peace Foundation, a NGO working in Colombia since 1997.

The Fundación Escuelas de Paz (FEP) is a collective project with an interdisciplinary team of professionals who is working since October of 1997. The project makes part of a net of national and international institutions that work in the promotion and popularization of the Culture of Peace, the human rights and the Humanitarian International Right.

FEP works through three main networks:

1. Schools of Peace network: (Red de Escuelas de Paz) More than 60 schools which have received training in human rights education, conflict resolution and peace education.

2. Young Net of Schools of Peace (Red Joven de Escuelas de Paz), has as main objective to offer interaction spaces where the knowledge of the Culture of the Peace is facilitated, directed and coordinated by the youth.

3. Peace Educators Network (Red de Educadores por la Paz), compose by a group of persons coming since all levels of the education interested in becoming agents that live and they multiply the ideals of the Culture of Peace, the human rights and the Humanitarian International Right.

Fundación Escuelas de Paz makes part of the National Net of organizations of the civil society who work for the PEACE in Colombia and it is in permanent interaction and connection with work initiatives in pro of the prevention of the violence and the construction of peace, peace education and human rights education.

My name is Ebenezer Omolekun and I currently live and work in Kaduna, North West Nigeria. I have up to ten years of work experience in the development sector. I have worked for different organizations before joining the Women’s Interfaith Council (WIC), an Interfaith based organization that promotes peaceful coexistence, peacebuilding, tolerance, non – violence, conflict resolution and women’s concerns. Over the years, I have developed competencies in administrative, managerial and programmatic skills including, resource mobilization, project design and management, monitoring and evaluation having been involved in the implementation of several projects funded by different donor agencies and governments. I have also attended several trainings in different areas of development both locally and internationally.

My name is Jeff Hamann, and I live in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where I work for PATRIR (Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania). I organise training programmes both in Cluj and London (and worldwide, upon request) around many different conflict-related topics, focusing on designing effective and sustainable peacebuilding programmes, developing early warning and prevention systems, etc. I am also a researcher working with a UN-backed project in Northern Iraq focusing on issues of return for displaced people (investigating how to build social cohesion, empathy and trust between and inside communities).

I am quite interested to engage with this community, and I look forward to speaking with many of you in the future.

Hello,
I am Tim Michael Adepoju from Nigeria.
I am the Executive Director of Triade Peace Foundation – Triade organization was borne out of the desire to spread the culture of entrenched peaceful coexistence amongs Nigerian youths (especially the students).

I am a graduate of Electrical Engineering but now a converted social and Humanitarian Ambassador.
The passion to take up service to humanity was rekindled on the 20th of February, 2006 when my mother, brother and sister were killed during a religious crisis in Northern part of Nigeria..

I have taken numerous online programs on Conflict Resolution, peace promotion and currently providing psycho-Social support to the Internally Displaced Persons – IDPs, Promoting Peace using the school students as gate-keepers to the larger society and as well using Audio and Video Documentaries to walk victims through my experience to learn to show Love and Forgiveness as I have demonstrated during and aftermath of the crisis.

I am interested in Peace work and activities and also believes “Peace Is Possible In Nigeria”

Hi, I’m Florence Kayemba currently living and working in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. I have more than a decades experience working in the media as a journalist, broadcaster and development communications specialist in East and West Africa. I do full time development work presently with a peacebuilding organisation which focuses on building resilient communities, democratization, access to energy, resource governance and environmental rights. Personally, I have great interest in the future character of conflict and the theory of new wars with a specific focus on the capabilities of various African countries such as Nigeria, Somalia, Mali and others in coping with the evolving character of conflicts. It appears that conventional warfare may no longer be appropriate in tackling new wars and this is particularly worrying for ‘fragile countries’ that still struggle to provide adequate human security.

My name is Jeffrey Tilton and I am a Crisis Stabilization and Governance Officer with USAID. I am currently assigned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the office that focuses on conflict sensitive interventions in the eastern DRC. I am particularly focused on Social Protection and prevention and response for Gender-Based Violence. While my Peace Corps, military, and other varied experiences provide some perspective, I am new to all of these fields and look forward to profiting from the experience of this group.

Role: Bangladesh Programme Officer
Languages: Bangla (mother tongue), English, Hindi
Summary:
Ten Years working experiences with National and International research, development and humanitarian organizations (Safer World, Peace Direct, The Hunger Project, Bangladesh Women Chamber of commerce and Industry, Overseas Superintendence Company Limited) in Security & Justice (focusing to community safety-security), peace building and governance, humanitatrian and emergency response programme, protection, youth development, socio-economic development and empowerment programme, women economic leadership programme, action research, livelihood development and natural resources management, market access, economic empowerment programme, leadership and governance programme.
Five years working experiences in leadership positions for overall programme management and development. Good practical knowledge on humanitarian’s code and charters. Experienced to design and mobilize social movement towards changes that affect the life of poor and unique skill to translate rights based concept/ approach in the development programme.
Country experience:
Bangladesh, Kenya, India, Nepal and UK

Steven Ackah is the founder of Transform Ghana peace Project that aims to provide educational and career development for the youth and young adults in Ghana and part of Africa. He’s alsothe the Author of knowing Africa book and has held several consultative forums toward peaceful elections in Ghana. He form the Volunteer Partnership Programme has engage diaspora and other foreigners who have key interest in Ghana and Africa democracy and peace building. Reach him on http://www.transformproject.org steven@transformproject.org +233 (0) 541154997

Daniel is a peace advocate, education ambassador and a media and information literacy advocate. I am founder of Diplomacy Opportunities where I engage youths globally on issues around peace, community engagement, media and information literacy and global development opportunities.

I have undegone projects with UNESCO, DW Akademie, GAPMIL, ACSI and A World at School.

Hello Peace Exchange Members, I am a Program Development and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) specialist with strong Communications, Advocacy, and Engagement skills. Over my 12 years of work, I have been galvanizing various stakeholders around the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and cross-cutting issues, such as: peace and security, humanitarian affairs, gender and women’s empowerment, and youth positive development. And I have joined this community as I believe in a better world!

Below, a brief summary of my professional experience:

ORGANIZATIONS I HAVE WORKED FOR: UNCDF, UNDP, IFAD, FAO, and NGOs, in collaboration with WFP and WBG

WHERE: US (New York and Washington, DC), EU (Rome and remotely, Italy), and Africa (Nairobi, Kenya)

Hi y’all ladies and gentlemen? I am Benson Gisebe Orucho from the Republic of Kenya. Am an undergraduate at Mount Kenya University undertaking my degree in education. I was so pleased to come across this amazing program for empowering the youths in order to transform our current society to a peaceful environment for peace and harmony amongst each other worldwide. I am looking forward to mentor and nurture the young people whilst I will be exercising my professional career as a teacher in a way that will both enrich my students both academic skills, social skills and peaceful motives and attributes in their life. Not only students in schools but also a general mentorship forum for peace through various agencies can be launched over the same for the well-being of our society.

It’s a pleasure to get along with you all members and please may we be effective in this exercise to make our generation shine in peace and liberty legitimately. Thanks in advance.

I am Timothy Okumu from Kenya, a Research chemist and quality control analyst. I am a graduate of Bsc Analytical Chemistry with computing, and my interests are in Agribusiness, Healthcare, and Energy. I look forward to learning much from the network.

I’m an academic researcher and I conduct research on the application of Communication for Development in Peacebuilding, with a focus on post-civil conflict realities. I explore and evaluate new communication for development approaches that employ different media and communication channels to contribute to social change and sustainable peace in the aftermath of civil violence. I also look at the application of communication for development for citizen engagement in governance and peacebuilding. I collaborate with UNICEF and other international NGOs (such as Mercy Corps and Search for Common Ground) on different projects related to Communication for Development and media for peace.

My PhD looked the ways in which participatory media can be used as story-telling tools to share experiences of war among hostile communities in the aftermath of a civil war, and how sharing stories through the media can facilitate healing and reconciliation. As part of my doctorate project, I worked on the evaluation of two participatory media activities implemented in Kenya in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 Post-Election Violence. I assessed the impact of these projects in relation to ethnic reconciliation between and among communities in specific areas of the Rift Valley.

More generally, I am also interested in looking at the different ways communication can be used in development contexts (particularly in post-conflict settings), as well as in understanding the impact that an introduction to the use of the media has on communities living in extreme poverty.

Prior to the start of my academic career, I have worked as an international development professional for various non-governmental organisations, government departments and the United Nations, both in Head Offices and in Country Offices in African settings.

Your profiles and experiences are very interesting. I hope to collaborate with some of you.

I am from Syria. I have a bachelor degree in Business Administration and a diploma degree in Mechanical Engineering. Moreover, I have more than 9 years experiences in operation & administrative fields and I have been working in the Humanitarian field for more than 5 years. I like to support youth and development projects and love to spread peace worldwide.

Hi, it’s a pleasure to meet everyone! I am Joanna Springer. I work in research and evaluation, primarily in conflict-affected contexts. Most recently I finished a two-year USAID community resilience project in South Sudan. I led a team using research and learning to develop evidence-based community engagement techniques for conflict sensitivity in South Sudan. I joined this community to learn and share resources on conflict mitigation and resilience programming in fragile settings.

I am glad to be on this network of global professional peace-builders. My name is Matthew from Liberia. I am an independent news Writer, Journalist and a Global Rights Activist, passionately reporting and covering stories​ ​and​ ​happenings​ ​from​ ​southwestern Liberia.

I am the Executive Director of the Youth Against Tribalism In Africa (YATIA), a registered nonprofit peacebuilding organization working with youth and communities to fight ethnic and religious discrimination, human rights violations, and fostering peaceful co-existence, democracy, transparency, education and economic growth and vitalization by instituting educational related programs in Liberia and the African Continent.

My name is Nigina Valentini. I am a Monitoring and Evaluation professional with more than 7 years of experience in complexity-aware monitoring and evaluation on donor-funded projects in volatile regions. Currently I work as a Technical Manager at Creative Associates International where I design M&E programs focusing on Countering Violent Extremism, peacebuilding, and social cohesion.

My name is Selya Elmina Tyav.I’m the executive director of C-Gate, Citadel gate of Hope and Restoration Initiative. I’m a public health practitioner, Communication for Development expert and peace builder.

I have experience working with local and International oganinzations like Save the Children International and Plateau State Virology research Centre. At C-Gate,this is what we do:

C Gate is a non-profit organization operating out of Plateau State, North Central Nigeria whose mission is to Rescue, Restore, and Empower Communities with Dignity by providing non state actor intervention through innovative cooperative solutions in conflict resolution, healthcare, education, good governance, gender and youth action.

CITADEL GATE OF HOPE AND RESTORATION INITIATIVE

…Working with communities to advance the society

OUR VISION

To Rescue, Restore, and Empower Communities with Dignity

OUR MISSION

Bringing hope and restoration by strengthening and bridging community divides

Hi everyone, This is Atibar Fattal Afghan National and currently lives in London.

Holder of diploma in Law & Politics and meanwhile doing my degree in politics and International Relations from Kingston University London.

I worked for almost five years with USAID on various positions such as Grant’s Contracts and procurement Manager alongside USAID worked for World Bank in Afghanistan as Contracts Management Specialist for AJSDP project for one and a half year.

Activism for peace is my passion and seeing peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan is my dream, I am engaged with peace and political activism for 9 years now. I love the people who works for peace around the globe.

Master of international relations, social activist, work for peace and stability, work at national and international organizations, now work at president office of President, and members of peace council

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research professional with M.Phil. degree in Economics and almost 5 years of work experience with national and international organizations on thematic areas of Civil Society, Democracy and Electoral strengthening, Digital Finance, Education, Gender, Governance, Taxation, Labor Markets, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Poverty, and Public Finance.

Currently, I’m working as Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist with Management System International (MSI) on PERFORM in Pakistan. I have completed about 15 performance monitoring and evaluation assignments on thematic areas of Taxation, Education, Governance, Gender mainstreaming, Family planning & Reproductive Health, and Agriculture at USAID-MSI including the Data Quality Assessments (DQAs). Moreover, I have worked as an independent consultant on different donor-funded projects such as Women status report (UNWOMEN), Tax policy and enterprises development (IDRC), UIPT reforms in Punjab (IFPRI), Impact assessment of Home Based Women Workers (ICRC). Additionally, within monitoring & data quality control, I’ve worked on household surveys with Helix, MicroSave, CGAP, and InterMedia on their Agent Network Accelerator /Digital Financial Service surveys in Northern Punjab.

Working within development sector is my passion with an aim to uplift the marginalized and deprived communities. Being from similar community, I want these voice to be heard at all relevant platforms while designing interventions or programming.

My name is Andrew Nantogmah, and I currently work on USAID’s Peace through Evaluation, Learning and Adapting activity in the capacity as Communications Advisor. Essentially, my role in this activity is to help with the conceptualization and development of effective communication products such as audio, video and other multimedia products to aid in enhancing USAID West Africa’s effectiveness in its CVE interventions.

My academic background is in education and communication for development. I believe that joining the Peace Exchange platform will afford me the opportunity to gain more insights in the broader area of conflict peace and security, and also learn, first hand, from the respective subject matter experts.

My name is Gideon, and I am currently studying for a PhD at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

I volunteer for a Pan-African civil right group called Africans Rising, with specific interest in ‘seeking justice, building peace and regaining dignity for all the peoples of Africa.’ More specifically, I believe that peace can best be built by delivering justice – economic, political, cultural and environmental.

It is interesting to me to find a community of people who also share the dream of a humanity at peace with itself, and are as well willing to commit themselves to its actualization.

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Our Mission

We are a global community of practitioners, donors, and academics who aim to improve conflict sensitive development programming by collecting and building knowledge on a diverse set of materials, experiences, and reflections.